Site lets you customize sports news

SportsUltra tracks teams, players

By JOHN COOK, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Like many sports fans, Scott Decker's loyalties don't solely lie with the hometown teams covered in the daily newspapers. That's why the 32-year-old former manager at Blue Nile and Edmunds.com created SportsUltra, a Web site that allows fans to create a customized news package about their favorite teams, players and sports columnists.

Think of it as a daily sports section, but only with news you care about.

For example, an Ohio native living in Seattle could tailor his or her page to receive an online news feed for the Cleveland Indians, the Ohio State Buckeyes, Seattle Mariners and other teams. If the fan attended Ohio State and wanted to track the professional careers of athletes such as basketball star Greg Oden or Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, news about them also could be added to the customized page. Users also can add their favorite sports columnists and reporters from newspapers, magazines and Web sites, including the Seattle P-I's Art Thiel, ESPN.com's Andy Katz and The Boston Globe's Bob Ryan.

Decker, whose MyUltra page includes teams such as the Seattle Seahawks, Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners, came up with the concept because it was too difficult to find news related to his favorite teams and players.

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"We wanted to free up those hours of searching, giving fans more time to spend reading about the sports that they are so passionate about," he said. "People want coverage from ESPN.com and the local sports columnists that cover every scrimmage of the game. They want to be able to track their teams, players and sportswriters all in one location."

The concept is not entirely unique, with MyESPN.com and CBS SportsLine Tracker offering customized sports news. Also, Collinsville, Conn.-based Sports Technologies operates a site called FanNation that allows fans to aggregate content based on teams and players. FanNation, which was founded by former employees of Starwave.com and backed by the Seattle venture firm Second Avenue Partners, was sold to Sports Illustrated in February just six months after its debut.

FanNation President Chris Nicholas said that the online sports category has picked up steam since Sports Illustrated acquired his startup. But Nicholas said the new competition is a good thing and he expects more of it, especially as online video becomes prominent and sports fans crave more information for use in fantasy sports leagues.

At first glimpse, Nicholas said SportsUltra appeared to be easy to use and was offering some "solid aggregation."

"Good luck to them," Nicholas said. "It is never a bad thing when people are giving these things a shot. It is certainly good for the user."

Unlike FanNation, SportsUltra does not require users to sign up. It also is incorporating video from local TV stations and sites such as FoxSports. com and ESPN.com.

The company plans to make money through targeted advertising, with Decker saying that it will rely on word of mouth and other viral marketing techniques to attract users. He expects to reach profitability in the next six to 12 months.

Decker declined to disclose the amount of money he has raised or his financial backers, though he said the startup is "well financed."

Since SportsUltra plans to aggregate content from multiple sources and display only short summaries of the information, Decker does not anticipate copyright issues. He said the site operates much like a search engine, pointing people to the information they want.

"We respect people's content -- in fact, we hope to drive more traffic to the media sources, as they have some truly unique content to provide to our sports fans," he said. "However, if we were asked to take a news piece or video down, we would absolutely oblige."

Currently, the site allows users to aggregate sports content around football, basketball (both college and professional), baseball and hockey. If the site is successful, Decker hopes to expand to other sports.

He's already fielded one request for golf news. It was an important request: It came from Decker's father.